THE 


TROY  &  GREENFIELD  RAILROAD. 

ARGUMENT  OF  E.  HASKET  DERBT,  ESQ., 

DELIVERED  FEB.  29th,  1856. 

BEFORE 

A  JOINT  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE 

OF  THE 

LEGISLATURE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

IN  BEHALF  OF  THE 

TROY  AND  GREENFIELD  RAILROAD  COMPANY  ; 


PETITIONERS  FOR  A 


STATE  SUBSCRIPTION  TO  THEIR  STOCK. 


PHONOGRAPHIC  REPORT,  BY  A.  J.  MARSH. 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED  BY  BAZIN  &  CHANDLER,  37  CORNHILL. 

1856. 


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ARGUMENT  OE  E.  HASEET  DERBY,  ESQ. 


Boston,  Friday,  Feb.  29th,  1856. 

The  Committee  met  in  Lobby  N.  13,  and  Mr.  Lee,  Senator  from  Worcester,  the 
Chairman  called  the  Committee  to  order  at  3  o’clock.  He  said  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Committee. — This  is  a  special  Committee  appointed  to  hear  the 
petitioners  of  the  Troy  and  Greenfield  Railroad  Company.  We  had  one  meeting 
on  the  20th  inst.,  for  organization,  and  the  choice  of  a  Secretary,  and  adjourned 
until  to-day,  giving  the  parties  interested  notice  of  this  adjournment.  We  now 
call  upon  the  petitioners  to  come  forward  and  be  heard,  and  as  some  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  were  not  present  when  the  petition  was  read  at  the  last  meeting,  I  will  call 
for  its  reading  again. 

E.  HASKET  DERBY,  Esq.,  said  he  had  the  honor  to  appear  in  behalf  of  the 
Troy  and  Greenfield  Rail  Road  Company,  and  read  their  petition,  which  has 
already  been  printed  for  the  use  of  the  Legislature. 

Mr.  Derby  then  addressed  the  Committee  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen , — Before  you  decide  whether  to  grant  or  not  to 
grant  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  it  is  proper  that  I  should  present  to  you  some 
outlines  of  their  case,  which,  though  feebly  shadowed  forth  in  the  petition  which  I 
have  just  read,  is  not  there  presented  in  a  way  to  do  full  justice  to  the  cause  you 
are  called  upon  to  consider. 

In  determining  whether  you  will  grant  the  aid  of  the  State  subscription  to  the 
great  enterprise  of  these  petitioners,  it  will  be  proper  to  glance  for  a  moment  at 
the  condition  of  the  State  itself,  and  her  relative  position  in  the  country  Massa¬ 
chusetts  is  but  a  small  State.  1  might  say  as  Webster  once  said  of  Austria  and 
her  relation  to  Europe,  Massachusetts  is  but  a  patch  upon  the  surface  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  very  important  patch,  however,  gentlemen,  in  the  constellation  of 
States.  It  contains  7,500  square  miles  of  surface.  Carve  Ohio  into  States 
of  equal  size,  and  she  will  make  five  like  Massachusetts.  Divide  the  Union 
into  sections  of  the  same  area  as  Massachusetts  and  you  would  find  400  States  com¬ 
posing  the  Union.  I  include  of  course,  all  ihe  Western  Territories  of  the  United 
States.  Massachusetts  is  peculiarly  a  granitic  State,  although  that  title  has  usually 
been  accorded  to  New  Hampshire.  It  is  naturally  sterile.  We  have,  gentlemen, 
some  fertile  vales,  and  intervales  more  appropriate  for  mowing  and  pasturage  than 
for  the  production  of  grain,  but  as  an  agricultural  State  Massachusetts  stands  be¬ 
hind  the  other  States  of  the  Union.  There  are  single  counties  in  New  York,  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  Ohio,  which  produce  more  grain  and  breadstuffs  than  the  entire  State 
of  Massachusetts.  The  last  census  shows  that  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Butler, 
Ohio,  and  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  more  breadstuffs  of  all  kinds  are  produced 
annually  than  in  the  whole  State  of  Massachusetts.  Each  of  these  counties  pro¬ 
duces  from  three  to  five  millions  of  bushels  of  grain  annually,  while  the  State  cf 
Massachusetts  produces  little  more  than  three  millions,  and  comparing  decade  with 
decade,  we  find  that  the  quantity  grown  in  Massachusetts  is  steadily  diminishing. 

But,  gentlemen,  while  Massachusetts  is  comparatively  poor  in  agriculture,  she  is 
a  great  State  in  other  particulars,  and  she  reaches  out  her  arm  for  breadstuffs  and 
v  other  provisions,  to  the  more  prolific  regions  of  the  West.  For  although  sterile, 

herself,  she  has  here  a  colony  of  men,  growing  and  expanding  year  after  year, 


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who  are  devoted  to  other  employments,  which  draw  the  produce  from  more  distant 
States.  Massachusetts  stands  to-day  one  of  the  first  States  of  the  Union  in  popula¬ 
tion.  She  has,  by  the  census  of  last  year,  1,131,000  people  ;  and,  small  as  she  is, 
in  many  departments,  she  takes  the  lead  of  her  sister  States.  Small  as  she  is,  she 
still  takes  the  lead  in  manufactures.  By  that  census  of  her  industry  which  will  be 
reported  to  you  in  a  few  days,  her  manufactures  must  be  nearly  $200,000,000  an¬ 
nually,  at  least  such  is  my  prediction. 

She  is  first  still,  gentlemen,  in  the  department  of  education,  in  mental  cultiva¬ 
tion  and  improvement.  First  still,  in  her  public  charities  which  have  drawn  some¬ 
what  largely  upon  her  finances,  but  have  returned  her  a  hundred  fold  in  glory  and 
honor  elsewhere — I  may  say  throughout  the  world.  In  reading  a  few  days  since, 
with  satisfaction  and  pleasure,  a  report  made  to  the  Government  of  England,  I  was 
struck  with  the  remark  that  England  had  taught  nations  “  how  to  live,”  but  since 
Massachusetts  has  devoted  so  much  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  mind  that 
wreath  of  glory  now  bloomed  for  the  brow  of  Massachusetts.  Massachusetts  teaches 
the  world  how  to  think  as  well  as  how  to  live. 

Although  not  first  in  navigation,  Massachusetts  is  one  of  the  first,  I  think  she  is 
the  second  State  in  the  Union  in  the  amount  of  her  navigation.  She  has  over  a 
million  of  tons  of  shipping  to-day,  one-fifth  the  aggregate  tonnage  ot  England, 
and  close  upon  one-fifth  of  the  tonnage  of  the  whole  United  States.  She  is  first 
still  in  the  fisheries,  the  whale  fishery,  the  mackerel  fishery,  and  the  cod  fishery, 
and  she  is  the  second  State  in  commerce. 

She  is  the  second  or  third  State  in  the  Union  in  the  amount  of  her  wealth. 
Poor  as  the  soil  is,  the  accretion  upon  that  soil  makes  her  one  of  the  richest  States 
in  the  Union.  Small  as  she  is  in  comparison  with  other  States,  she  is  possessed  of 
the  largest  population  to  the  square  mile,  and  she  has  an  amount  of  intelligence, 
wealth,  and  resources,  quite  adequate  to  cope  with  the  undertaking  I  have  the 
honor  to  present  this  afternoon  to  your  consideration. 

I  remarked,  gentlemen,  that  we  must  look  elsewhere  for  the  wheat  fields  and  the 
corn  fields  of  Massachusetts ;  for  the  fields  which  display  those  silken  tassels  and 
those  golden  ears,  so  beautifully  and  eloquently  depicted  by  Mr.  Everett,  in  his 
address  at  the  National  Agricultural  Exhibition,  last  Autumn.  We  must  look  for 
these  in  the  rich  bottoms  of  the  Western  States,  and  it  is  to  reach  the  immense 
wheat  and  corn  fields  of  these  States,  upon  which  we  rely,  that  we  essay  this  impor¬ 
tant  undertaking. 

It  has  been  ascertained  in  Great  Britain  (and  I  suppose,  gentlemen,  we  may 
measure  the  capacities  of  New  England  men  by  the  standard  of  England,)  that 
every  inhabitant  requires  upon  an  average,  fourteen  bushels  of  corn,  or  its  equiva¬ 
lent  in  bread-stuffs  of  some  description,  every  year.  Now,  we  produce  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts  less  than  three  and  a  half  millions  of  bushels,  and  as  our  population  is 
1,150,000  to-day,  and  increasing  some  fifty  per  cent,  every  ten  years,  it  is  easy  for 
you  or  for  me  to  compute  what  amount  of  breadstuff's  we  require  at  present,  and 
what  will  be  required  in  the  future,  for  our  own  consumption.  You  will  recollect 
that  the  land  is  stationary,  while  the  people  are  increasing  and  multiplying.  If 
fourteen  bushels  are  required  per  head,  some  seventeen  or  eighteen  millions  are 
needed  in  the  aggregate,  and  of  this  nearly  fourteen  millions  must  be  imported  from 
other  States,  to  feed  the  population  of  Massachusetts.  1  have  endeavored  to  reduce 
this  to  some  specific  amount  of  tonnage,  and  the  result  is  approximate,  of  course, 
that  the  supply  of  breadstuff's  required  to  be  brought  into  Massachusetts  annually 
amounts  to  300,000  tons.  Then  in  addition  to  this  we  require  at  least,  two-thirds 
as  much  more  in  the  articles  of  cattle,  swine,  sheep,  salt  provisions,  butter,  cheese, 
pork  and  lard,  which  come  from  the  West,  for  the  maintenance  of  our  people. 
We  must  requite  those  who  supply  these  articles,  with  fish  from  our  fisheries,  oil 
gathered  from  the  ocean,  the  products  of  our  manufactories,  or  the  imports  which 
we  draw  from  foreign  regions.  When  you  add  together  the  300,000  tons  of  corn, 
some  200,000  tons  of  other  provisions,  and  perhaps  100,000  tons  more  of  what  we 
may  call  raw  material,  hemp,  lead,  leather,  and  other  articles,  which  are  annually 
used  in  our  manufactories,  —  all  of  which  must  be  brought  into  Massachusetts,  and 


-*>•  \  ..  - 


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fclien  add  to  this  sum  200,000  or  300,000  tons  of  fish,  oil,  and  the  varied  manufac¬ 
tures  of  New  England,  which  go  to  the  West,  you  make  an  aggregate  of  commerce 
between  the  East  and  West,  which  now  seeks  routes  more  or  less  circuitous  of  at 
least  700,000  or  800,000  tons  to-day.  This  commerce  will  well  nigh  double  every 
decade,  and  is  becoming  more  and  more  important,  so  that  if  my  estimates  are  too 
large  for  to-day  they  will  not  be  large  enough  for  to-morrow. 

Now,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  present  to  you  this  proposition.  If  by  the  instru¬ 
mentality  of  a  Railroad  through  the  Hoosac  Mountain  to  Troy,  or  by  any  other 
enterprise,  we  could  succeed  in  reducing  by  one-half  thelbostof  transporting  this  pro¬ 
duce  from  the  West  to  the  East,  and  these  articles  of  manufacture  and  the  proceeds 
of  the  fisheries  from  the  East  to  the  West,  how  material  would  be  the  effect  upon  the 
profits  of  the  industry  of  Massachusetts  ?  The  Western  Railroad  Co.,  gentlemen, 
as  we  learn  from  their  reports,  annually  disseminated  through  the  Legislature, 
charge  for  transportation  from  Albany  to  Boston,  not  less  than  five  dollars  per  ton. 
The  lowest  point  in  their  tariff  has  been  three  dollars,  and  perhaps  the  highest  is 
seven  dollars,  but  take  the  average  between  the  lowest  and  the  highest,  and  the 
charge  is  five  dollars  per  ton.  If  I  can  present  to  you  our  improvement  as  reduc¬ 
ing  this  expenditure  one-half,  (and  it  is  able  to  do  it,)  and  effecting  a  reduction  of 
two  dollars  and  a  half  or  over  two  dollars  per  ton,  is  not  that  an  important  item  of 
saving  ?  Apply  this  reduction  to  the  800,000  tons  of  commerce  per  annum,  and 
you  arrive  at  a  saving  annually  not  merely  of  the  amount  we  ask  you  to  subscribe 
to  the  stock  of  this  enterprise,  but  a  saving  annually  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
of  $1,600,000  to  $2,000,000,  which  is  more  Ilian  the  estimated  cost  of  the  tunnel 
to  be  bored  through  the  Hoosac  Mountain.  Permit  me,  gentlemen,  to  suggest  to 
you  that  in  these  times,  when  economy  is  demanded  by  the  community,  when  the 
prices  of  breadstuffs  are  so  high,  and  the  cost  of  living  so  much  enhanced,  a  mea¬ 
sure  calculated  to  save  one  or  two  millions  of  dollars  annually  to  the  people  of  Mas¬ 
sachusetts,  is  one  deserving  of  the  very  serious  consideration  of  those  who  repre¬ 
sent  the  industry  and  the  wealth  of  the  State. 

It  is  not,  however,  alone  to  the  domestic  trade  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  supply 
of  her  people,  that  I  seek  to  call  your  attention.  I  would  advert  also,  to  the  foreign 
trade  of  Massachusetts.  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show  you  that  we  can  build  up  a 
vast  foreign  trade  for  our  sea  ports  —  for  the  ports  of  Boston,  Salem,  Newburyport 
and  others,  which  are  alike  interested  in  this  measure.  Permit  me  to  suggest  to  you 
gentlemen,  for  I  see  the  county  of  Essex  is  well  represented  in  this  committee,  that 
the  ports  of  Salem  and  Newburyport  will  save,  in  the  reduction  of  the  cost  of  trans¬ 
portation,  by  the  opening  of  this  route,  even  more  than  the  port  of  Boston  itself. 
The  matter  of  foreign  commerce,  gentlemen,  is  one  of  great  importance,  in  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  this  question. 

What  is  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  to-day,  and  what  is  it  to  be¬ 
come  hereafter  ?  It  is  no  longer  mainly  the  export  ot  cotton  and  other  pro¬ 
ducts  of  the  South,  and  the  import  of  manufactures  from  abroad  ;  but  a  new  com¬ 
merce  is  springing  up,  of  peculiar  importance  to  the  Northern  States.  It  is  the 
exchange  of  the  provisions  of  the  Northern  States  for  the  products  of  the  labor  of 
the  old  world,  where  the  soil  has  been  gradually  exhausted  or  overpeopled.  Ten 
years  since  it  was  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  encourage  manufactures  at 
home,  while  at  the  present  time  it  would  seem  to  be  the  policy  of  the  nation  to 
manufacture  in  Europe,  sending  out  the  productions  of  the  West  to  exchange  for 
European  manufactures.  Whether  this  policy  be  wise  or  unwise  it  is  not#  for  me 
here  to  inquire  ;  we  have  only  to  deal  with  the  fact  as  it  is.  It  has  been  the  cus 
tom  of  Massachusetts  always  to  adapt  herself  to  the  existing  state  of  things,  what 
ever  it  might  be,  upon  the  land  and  upon  the  ocean,  in  manufactures  and  in  com¬ 
merce,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  she  will  continue  so  to  adapt  herself.  In  the  com¬ 
mercial  interchange  of  the  products  of  the  West  for  those  of  Europe  she  has  ever 
been  ready  to  take  her  part,  and  I  think,  gentlemen,  at  the  present  time,  when 
this  great  foreign  commerce,  this  interchange  of  breadstuffs  for  the  manufactures 
of  Europe  is  springing  up  and  expanding  day  by  day,  Massachusetts  with  her  mil¬ 
lions  of  tons  of  shipping  and  her  numerous  important  sea  ports,  has  a  right  to 


4 


demand  of  this  committee,  and  through  them  of  the  State  Legislature,  that  some 
attention  be  paid  to  the  improvement  and  development  of  her  foreign  commerce. 

Massachusetts  is  noted  as  the  School  of  the  Union  for  the  education  of  Seamen. 
She  has  always  nourished  and  reared  this  hardy  class  in  her  coastwise  trade,  and  in 
her  fisheries,  along  the  shores  of  her  capacious  bays.  Her  sea  coast,  including 
these  numerous  indentures,  is  as  large  as  that  of  any  other  State.  Upon  those 
Capes,  and  particularly  upon  Cape  Cod,  are  reared  the  masters  of  our  ships 
and  the  mariners  of  the  nation ;  and  finally  through  our  foreign  commerce,  the 
enterprising  and  honorable  merchants  who  are  conducting  the  commerce  of  this 
great  country.  Then,  gentlemen,  1  respectfully  submit  that  if  by  this  route  we  can 
enable  Massachusetts  to  participate  to  a  great  extent  in  this  foreign  commerce,  it 
deserves  the  care  and  cultivation  of  the  State. 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  nature,  the  character  and  extent  of  this  com¬ 
merce,  and  how  the  products  of  the  West  destined  for  Europe  pass  to  the  ocean. 
A  half  century  since  the  route  for  this  commerce,  then  barely  beginning  to  exist, 
was  not  by  its  present  course  to  the  sea.  There  were  two  outlets  only  for  the  pro¬ 
duce  of  the  West.  It  followed  the  chain  of  the  lakes,  and  down  the  stormy  St. 
Lawrence,  and  found  its  way  through  a  mouth  sealed  up  one-half  of  the  year  by 
solid  ice,  and  enveloped  in  dangerous  fogs  the  other  half,  difficult  of  access,  turbu- 
lant  and  stormy  ;  or  it  sought  the  mighty  Mississippi,  following  it  down  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  through  unhealthy  and  feverish  regions,  where  the  lives  of  men  were 
imperilled,  and  property  often  perished. 

But  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  the  eye  of  genius  was  directed  to  a  better 
mart,  and  the  wealth  and  intellect  of  New  York  were  drawn  towards  the  connec¬ 
tion  of  the  great  chain  of  lakes  with  the  sea-board.  DeWitt  Clinton  took  an  early, 
active,  and  decided  part  in  this  great  project,  and  it  is  somewhat  to  the  credit  of 
my  native  State,  and  your  native  State,  gentlemen,  that  when  the  idea  of  the  great 
canal  was  started,  New  York  sent  to  Massachusetts  to  take  pattern  by  the  Middle¬ 
sex  Canal  —  the  first  Canal  as  well  as  the  first  Railroad  in  the  United  States  hav¬ 
ing  been  built  in  Massachusetts.  It  was  found  there  was  only  one  chasm  in  the 
Alleghany  range  through  which  a  canal  could  be  directed  to  the  sea-board,  and  that 
was  through  the  Mohawk  Valley.  The  waters  of  the  lakes  could  be  made  to  flow 
directly  towards  old  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  water  was  found  to  flow  around 
from  Lake  Erie,  parallel  to  Lake  Ontario,  onward  nearly  to  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
with  no  important  summits  to  be  surmounted.  The  Canal  was  excavated,  carrying 
products  to  the  sea  by  a  gradual  descent,  and  with  no  material  counter  ascents.  It 
has  since  been  gradually  enlarged,  and  enlarged  again,  has  formed  the  line  for  im¬ 
portant  railway  improvements,  and  is  now  expanding  to  the  capacity  of  a  Ship 
Canal,  floating  vessels  of  some  200  tons.  By  this  channel  the  annual  commerce  of 
the  vast  interior  has  for  years  found  its  way  to  the  deep,  from  Ohio,  Illinois,  In¬ 
diana,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  from  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  from  the  very  base 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  turns  neither  to  the  right  nor  left,  to  seek  New 
Orleans  nor  Quebec,  the  Mississippi  nor  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  tends  onward  in  a 
vast  stream  till  it  strikes  the  Mohawk  Valley,  onward  till  it  meets  the  Hudson 
River,  onward  till  it  strikes  the  very  flank  of  the  Hoosac  Mountain  !  It  would  have 
continued  onward  to  the  Bay  State,  but  for  this  interposition  of  the  mountain  by  the 
Providence  of  God,  in  its  direct  course  towards  the  ocean,  towards  England, 
towards  Europe.  It  was  only  this  little  obstacle  interposed  by  nature  for  the  genius 
and  science,  and  energy  of  Massachusetts  to  overcome,  and  thus  win  another  crown 
of  glory  to  the  old  Commonwealth — it  was  only  this  providential  obstacle  which 
turned  this  vast  tide  of  commerce,  and  sent  it  at  a  right  angle  from  the  flank  of  the 
Hoosac,  to  enrich  the  Island  of  Manhattan. 

Here  this  commerce  has  built  up  a  population  of  900,000  people,  making  New 
York  the  third  city  of  the  civilized  world,  and  soon  to  be  the  first.  It  has  made  it 
the  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the  Union,  and  it  is  giving  it  annually  an  accession 
of  some  40,000  people,  and  thirty  or  forty  millions  of  dollars.  All  this  was  accom¬ 
plished  by  the  impulse  given  by  this  great  channel  of  trade,  for  previous  to  its 
opening,  the  population  of  New  York  had  been  almost  stationary.  But  it  is  not 


5 


necessary  to  expand  upon  what  New  York  has  been  and  what  it  is  to-day,  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  this  tide  of  commerce.  It  stands  before  you,  the  city  of  palaces,  the 
great  commercial  metropolis  of  the  country. 

If  you  will  apply  a  tape  to  any  map  of  the  Eastern  States,  placing  one  end  at 
the  city  of  Troy,  and  swinging  the  other  around  from  New  York  to  Boston,  you 
will  find  that  the  air  line  to  Boston  is  actually  three  miles  shorter  than  to  New 
York.  Go  a  step  further  and  you  find  that  a  direct  line  from  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
and  from  the  Great  West  to  the  British  Provinces  passes  directly  through  the  City 
of  Boston.  These  Provinces  which  require  such  vast  amounts  of  breadstuff's  every 
year,  are  directly  on  a  line  with  Boston,  and  the  granaries  of  the  West.  Continue 
your  line  across  the  ocean  to  the  city  of  Liverpool,  and  you  find  that  it  still  passes 
directly  through  the  city  of  Boston.  Our  metropolis  is  exactly  on  the  way.  And 
you  will  find  further,  that  the  freight  which  turns  from  the  flank  of  the  Hoosac  is 
actually  some  50  miles  further  from  Liverpool  when  it  arrives  at  New  York  than 
before  it  started  from  Troy.  In  conducting  the  commerce  with  Liverpool,  the  city 
of  Boston,  (and  I  may  include  Salem  and  Newbury  port,)  has  an  advantage  ol  some 
200  miles  over  New  York,  in  the  actual  distance  from  port  to  port.  If  you  move 
one  step  further  to  the  East,  you  will  be  struck  with  another  geographical  feature. 
There  stands  the  city  of  Portland,  a  few  years  since  comparatively  insignificant  in 
commerce,  but  now  the  terminus  of  thousands  of  miles  of  Railroad,  extending  far 
up  the  great  Lakes?  and  even  to  Lake  Huron,  built  not  by  Portland  alone,  although 
she  aided,  by  granting  her  credit.  You  find  this  city  fast  drawing  off  our  com¬ 
merce,  although  possessing  no  advantage  of  proximity  to  Liverpool  over  Boston, 
because  by  the  jutting  out  of  the  peninsula  of  Nova  Scotia,  she  loses  as  much 
as  she  gains  by  the  difference  in  the  air  line  to  Liverpool.  These  facts  have 
an  important  bearing  upon  the  questions  we  are  here  to  discuss.  The  direct  route 
from  the  West  to  Europe  is  via  Boston,  and  the  direct  route  from  New  York  to 
Europe  is  via  Boston ;  and,  if,  gentlemen,  we  can,  by  the  exertions  of  intelligence 
and  science  break  through  the  barrier  of  this  mountain,  we  are  but  placing  the 
channel  of  communication  where  it  ought  to  be.  We  ought  to  be  upon  the  great 
line  of  communication  between  the  East  and  the  West. 

Upon  the  completion,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the 
great  impulse  given  to  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  opening  of  that  communica¬ 
tion,  led  the  citizens  of  Massachusetts  to  aspire  to  a  participation  in  the  advantages 
of  this  avenue.  The  idea  occurred  of  constructing  a  canal  to  communicate  with 
New  York.  Some  thirty  years  since,  I  think  it  was  in  1825.  there  weie  explora¬ 
tions  made  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  canal  route  between  Boston  and  the 
West.  Several  skilful  engineers  and  men  of  genius  were  brought  into  the  field, 
and  among  them  Gen.  Dearborn,  formerly  collector  of  the  port  of  Boston,  a  man 
who  stood  high  in  the  respect  and  confidence  of  Massachusetts.  Another  was 
Loammi  Baldwin,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  accomplished  engineers  on  this  side  of 
the  water.  They  availed  themselves  also  of  the  services  of  Gen.  Bernard,  to  whom, 
if  I  am  correctly  informed,  the  United  States  is  indebted  for  its  coastwise  defences, 
for  he  is  said  to  have  planned  nearly  all  the  large  fortifications  upon  the  coast  of 
the  United  States. 

These  men  undertook  to  select  the  best  route  for  a  canal.  They  did  not  find  the 
true  line  to  be  by  the  way  of  Worcester  and  Springfield  ;  the  line  discovered  and 
indicated  by  them  was  the  very  line  which  we  are  now  seeking  to  complete.  They 
followed  the  Nashua  Iliver  upwards  to  the  height  of  ground  ;  continued  down  the 
Miller’s  River  and  Otter  Creek  Valleys,  a  region  with  which  you,  Mr.  Chairman, 
are  quite  familiar  [Mr.  Lee  lives  in  Templeton,  Worcester  County]  ;  crossed  the 
Connecticut  River  high  up  between  Deeifield  and  Greenfield,  saving  270  feet  of 
the  depression  and  rise  of  the  Western  Railroad  ;  followed  the  Deerfield  liver  up 
by  Bloody  Brook,  passing  over  the  ground  where  in  our  eaily  history  a  savage 
massacre  by  the  Indians  occurred;  came  to  the  Hoosac  Mountain,  and  there  found 
that  the  only  route  for  a  canal  was  through  that  mountain  which  we  now  hope  to 
perforate.  They  reported  that  a  tunnel  for  a  canal  could  be  constructed  for  a 
million  of  dollars.  I  have  often  conferred  with  Gen.  Dearborn  upon  this  subject. 


6 


He  maintained  to  the  last  of  his  life  his  confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of  the 
project,  and  I  had  hoped  he  would  be  cheered  in  his  old  age  by  seeing  completed 
what  he  considered  one  of  the  most  important  of  enterprises  for  the  State  of  Mas¬ 
sachusetts. 

On  passing  beyond  the  mountain  they  found  the  Hoosac  river,  which  winds  its 
course  through  rich  and  highly  cultivated  vales  to  the  vicinity  of  Troy,  and  indi¬ 
cated  the  route,  not  for  a  railroad,  but  for  a  canal  which  requires  low  levels. 

But  it  was  not  then  the  policy  of  Massachusetts  to  construct  a  canal.  It  was 
thought  that  the  coldness  of  the  climate,  the  long  continuance  of  winter,  and  the 
injurious  effects  of  frosts,  were  insuperable  objections  and  the  State  decided,  wisely 
I  think,  (although  ere  now  we  might  have  exchanged  the  canal  fora  railroad  over 
the  same  route,)  not  to  build  a  canal  to  connect  with  the  improvements  of  New 
York.  Besides  this  there  were  rumors  of  other  great  improvements.  Stephen¬ 
son  of  England,  like  Archimedes  of  old,  was  pondering  over  mathematical  and 
scientific  problems,  which  have  resulted  in  railroads  and  locomotives.  They  were 
discovered  in  1829  or  1830  and  soon  after  a  railroad  was  commenced  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  it  could  be  carried  over  heights  of  ground 
where  canals  would  be  impracticable,  and  subsequently  the  cities  and  villages  which 
expanded  under  their  influence  drew  the  State  into  improvements  which  opened 
another  route.  The  Blisses,  the  Dennys,  the  Henshaws,  the  Lincolns,  and  the 
Dwights,  of  Springfield  and  Worcester,  with  other  leading  men,  threw  their  in¬ 
fluence  in  favor  of  the  present  route  of  the  Western  Railroad.  These  proved 
irresistible  magnets  to  Ihe  iron  way,  and  it  was  located  through  Worcester,  Spring 
field  and  Pittsfield. 

The  tunnel  was  discouraged,  because  it  required  time,  and  the  country  was  urgent 
for  a  road.  So  the  Western  Railroad,  instead  of  being  laid  through  these  low 
levels  on  either  side  of  the  Hoosac  mountain,  in  the  true  and  the  shortest  route, 
was  carried  over  several  successive  ranges  of  mountains,  in  its  course  lengthening 
the  air  line  some  fifty  per  cent.  It  went  on  its  devious  way  winding  over  the  Charl¬ 
ton  summit,  first  to  the  left,  then  to  the  right,  then  to  the  left  again ;  far  to  the 
South,  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  eight  miles  only  from  the  South 
line  of  the  State,  off  again  to  within  twenty  miles  of  the  Northern  line  at  Pittsfield, 
then  bending  towards  the  Southern  side  of  the  State,  and  then  passing  beyond  its 
limits  in  the  direction  of  Hudson,  but  soon  taking  another  turn  towards  Albany. 
It  extends  the  air  line  from  140  to  200  miles.  It  rises  first  1050  feet  above  the 
ocean,  then  descends  to  the  Connecticut  nearly  to  a  level  with  tide  water,  rises 
from  Springfield  1440  feet  into  the  air,  descends  into  Pittsfield  valley,  rises  again, 
and  finally  descends  to  the  level  of  tide  water  at  the  Hudson  river.  With  this 
devious  course  and  great  curvature,  there  are  several  gradients  of  60  and  80  feet 
per  mile,  and  the  freight  between  the  West  and  the  East  is  carried  1050  feet  up 
into  the  air,  then  down  to  the  level  of  the  sea,  then  up  again  eight  times  the  height 
of  this  State  House,  then  down  to  the  level  of  the  sea  again,  a  thousand  tons  car¬ 
ried  daily  up  and  down,  and  swinging  round  and  round,  lifted  and  depressed  by 
the  mighty  power  of  steam,  and  that  is  the  connection  we  now.  have  with  the  great 
improvements  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Well,  gentlemen,  the  consequence  is  what  might  be  predicted.  As  a  local  road, 
communicating  with  the  West,  it  has  become  a  successful  enterprise.  It  pays  divi¬ 
dends,  it  pays  interest  on  the  large  loan  of  the  State,  it  does  a  vast  local  business, 
which  it  has  itself  created,  earning  some  $1,800,000  a  year,  not  by  its  through 
business,  not  by  communicating  between  the  West  and  the  sea  board,  but  by  the 
communication  it  affords  between  the  West  and  new  towns  on  its  line,  many  of 
which  it  has  built  up  entirely.  All  the  towns  and  villages  on  its  route  have  been 
greatly  expanded  and  improved.  Worcester,  before  the  railroad,  had  but  3,500 
people  ;  now  the  population  of  the  city  of  Worcester  is  some  21,000.  Springfield 
with  its  dependencies,  had  some  4,000  or  5,000  ;  now  the  population  of  the  same  ter¬ 
ritory  is  about  20,000.  Pittsfield,  Westfield,  and  other  towns  I  have  not  time  to 
enumerate,  have  grown  up  in  proportion  through  the  same  influence.  The  road 
earns  now  seven  per  cent,  for  its  stockholders,  five  or  five  and  a  half  per  cent  in- 


7 


terest  on  the  State  loan,  besides  making  large  annual  contributions  to  its  sinking 
fund,  and  appropriating  sums  for  a  second  track  and  other  improvements. 

All  this,  as  I  have  said,  is  done,  not  by  its  through  business,  but  by  its  local  busi¬ 
ness.  I  said  this  gentlemen,  not  unadvisedly,  on  the  contrary,  I  will  give  you  the 
strongest  possible  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  statement.  We  have  here  a  report 
made  by  Mr.  William  H.  Swift,  formerly  President  and  now  a  Director  of  the 
Western  Railroad,  on  the  subject  of  transportation  on  the  railroads  in  New  Eng¬ 
land.  He  treats  of  the  cost  of  conveying  freight  and  passengers  over  railroads  in 
New  England,  and  more  particularly  in  Massachusetts,  and  says  the  result  of  the 
experience  of  the  Western  Railroad,  with  which  he  is  particularly  familiar,  and  of 
certain  other  railroads,  dealing  in  cumbrous  and  heavy  freights  for  short  distances, 
indicates  a  result  of  an  average  cost  of  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  On  former 
occasions,  gentlemen,  we  have  met  the  W estern  Railroad  as  foes ;  to-day  I  am 
happy  to  meet  them  as  allies,'  and  to  invoke  the  aid  of  a  former  President.  He 
tells  us  that  cents  per  ton  per  mile,  or  $5  from  Albany  to  Boston  is  the  average 
cost  of  transportation.  This  has  been  above  the  average  of  the  freight  charge  on 
the  Western  Railroad  from  its  opening  +o  the  present  time.  How  much  margin 
an  average  charge  of  $5,  and  an  average  cost  of  $5  leaves  for  profit,  you  can 
determine  for  yourselves ;  according  to  my  arithmetic  the  balance  is  nothing.  The 
dividends  of  the  Western  railroad,  so  far  as  freight  has  contributed  to  it,  then 
have  been  derived  from  the  local  trade,  and  not  from  the  through  business. 
In  fact  its  charges  for  short  distances,  of  50  or  100  miles,  have  been  nearly  as  much 
as  for  the  entire  run  of  200  miles,  and  furthermore  the  charge  for  200  miles  has 
to  be  diminished  by  a  division  with  the  Worcester  Railroad. 

Now  what  is  the  through  tonnage  of  the  Western  Railroad  compared  with  the 
whole  business  to  be  done.  I  have  here  the  report  of  the  W estern  Railroad  Cor¬ 
poration  printed  for  the  stockholders  in  January  last,  in  which  the  through  ton¬ 
nage  from  Boston  to  Albany,  and  from  Albany  to  Boston,  is  set  down  at  88,000  tons. 
The  canals  and  the  Central  Railway  of  New  York  carry  to  and  from  the  Mohawk 
Valley  nearly  4,000,000  tons  annually,  but  the  Western  Railroad,  laid  down  to 
connect  the  Mohawk  with  the  seaport  of  Boston,  transports  but  88,000  tons  !  This 
is  for  the  year  1855,  and  it  is  the  best  year  the  road  has  upon  its  list.  Why,  gentle¬ 
men,  the  entire  local  and  through  transportation  of  the  road  together  amounted 
very  nearly  to  400,000  tons.  The  through  business  of  the  road  is  but  little  more 
than  one-fifth  of  its  entire  business,  and  if  the  report  of  Capt.  Swift  be  reliable, 
(and  it  bears  his  signature,  and  is  circulated  among  the  various  railroad  companies 
of  Massachusetts,)  then  one-fifth  part  of  the  entire  freight  business  annually  of  the 
Western  Railroad  barely  pays  expenses.  Gentlemen,  this  through  business  is 
hardly  three  per  ct.,  of  the  whole  business  which  comes  down  into  the  Mohawk  Val¬ 
ley,  a  little  less  than  one-fortieth  part  of  it.  It  is  a  small  business,  and  the  road  can 
afford  to  lose  it,  because,  by  reason  of  its  summits,  and  gradients,  and  curves,  it 
pays  no  profit.  Then  with  regard  to  passengers,  we  find  that  the  Western  Rail¬ 
road  does  but  a  very  moderate  business  in  through  passengers.  The  total  number 
for  the  year  1855  is  put  down  at  60,067,  or  but  little  more  than  one  tenth  of  the 
whole  number,  533,310,  it  transports.  This  report  of  the  Western  Railroad  is 
signed  by  the  President,  and  also  by  Capt,  Swift,  a  former  President.  We  have 
then  these  two  documents,  the  Western  Railroad  Corporation  giving  us  the  facts 
as  to  the  amount  of  traffic,  and  Capt.  Swift  giving  us  the  cost,  and  together  proving 
that  there  is  little  profit  resulting  from  the  through  transportation  of  that  road. 

It  seems  gentlemen,  as  if  these  productions  of  the  press  were  floating  along,  to  aid 
us,  without  effort  on  our  part,5*  There  comes  here  a  report  from  another  set  of  gen¬ 
tlemen,  the  President  and  Managers  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad 
Company,  dated  Jan.  14,  1856,  signed  by  the  President,  Mr.  John  Tucker,  a  native 
of  Milton,  Mass ,  and  by  his  associate  Managers.  This  gives  us  remarkably  dif¬ 
ferent  results  from  those  presented  by  Capt.  Swift.  Mr.  Tucker  tells  us  his  read 
earned  last  year  $4,300,000,  chiefly  from  the  freight  on  transportation  of  coal.  The 


8 


road  has  carried  over  two  millions  of  tons  of  coal,  besides  other  freight,  and  some 
passengers. 

The  gross  receipts  for  1855,  were  $4,321,793  84 

Expenses  and  drawbacks,  1,727,878  62 

Net  income,  $2,593,915  22 

And  this  was  done  by  the  transportation  of  coal  at  1%  cents  per  ton  per  mile, 
very  considerably  less  than  the  reported  cost  of  through  freight  on  the  Western 
Railroad.  The  road  is  95  miles  long,  running  from  the  mountainous  coal  region 
to  Philadelphia,  and  we  find  in  the  summary  for  the  year  that  the  cost  of  coal 
transportation  is  54  38-100  cts.  per  ton,  actually  less  than  the  cost  of  trucking  in  Bos¬ 
ton.  The  coal  has  been  at  this  trifling  cost  transported  from  its  mountain  bed  down 
to  tide  water,  and  then  loaded  into  the  vessels  which  were  to  carry  it  to  eastern 
markets.  The  cost  for  through  passengers  is  stated  at  only  $1  25  51-100  each,  for  the 
entire  distance.  The  cost  of  coal  transportation  is  here  shown  to  be  only  6  mills 
per  ton,  instead  of  2£  cents  as  on  the  Western  Railroad,  that  is,  a  ton  can  be  car¬ 
ried  on  the  Reading  Railroad  at  one-fourth  the  cost  of  transportation  over  the 
Western.  This  illustrates  the  advantages  of  a  road  well  built,  with  favorable 
levels  and  grades.  This  road  has  one  disadvantage  to  contend  with,  however  for, 
it  has  comparatively  little  return  freight.  It  carries  on  an  average  423  tons  of 
freight  on  each  train,  from  the  summit  to  the  depot,  at  Philadelphia,  but  the  trains 
go  back  empty,  making  two  passages  for  a  single  load.  If  the  freight  could  be 
divided  to  run  both  ways  upon  a  level  road,  it  would  require  but  half  the  number 
of  cars,  and  a  much  larger  amount  could  be  carried.  As  it  is.  every  ear  is  required 
to  undergo  the  wear  and  tear  of  running  two  miles  to  do  one  mile’s  duty, —  and  in 
that  particular  the  road  has  a  disadvantage  compared  with  ours.  If  we  can  find  a 
road  in  Massachusetts  with  a  fountain  of  freight  at  either  end  to  supply  full  loads 
both  ways,  with  a  grade  which  will  admit  of  carrying  an  average  of  211  tons  per 
train,  and  with  half  the  cars  employed  by  the  Reading  road,  it  follows  as  a  neces¬ 
sary  consequence,  other  things  being  equal,  that  freight  can  be  carried  over  it  at  rates 
as  low  or  lower  than  over  the  Reading  road.  There  may  be  some  drawbacks,  as  for 
instance  the  loading  of  coal  on  the  Reading  road  without  expense  to  the  Company, 
and  the  unloading  by  means  of  a  trap  door,  but  these  are  not  serious  expenditures. 
The  transportation  of  coal  in  open  cars  also  saves  some  expense,  and  the  use  of 
coal  on  the  locomotives  make  another  reduction.  They  say  they  have  introduced 
anthracite  coal  in  their  locomotives,  and  I  trust  we  shall  do  so  too.  If  they  can 
use  coal  in  Pennsylvania,  we  can  also  use  it  in  Massachusetts.  But  all  these  ad¬ 
vantages  amount  to  but  little  compared  with  the  advantage  of  business  both  ways. 
The  one  will  offset  the  other,  and  I  believe  it  is  capable  of  demonstration  that  this 
railroad  can  carry  180  tons  per  train  on  an  average  both  ways,  and  if  the  Reading 
Road  can  carry  for  six  mills  per  mile,  we  can  carry  for  eight.  Then  if  we  can  do 
it  at  eight  mills  the  business  is  to  be  done,  and  it  will  be  brought  upon  the  line. 

The  question  then  is,  what  is  the  railroad  we  propose  to  carry  through  the 
IToosac  Mountain,  in  respect  to  its  capabilities,  and  how  and  why  can  it  sup¬ 
port  itself  on  low  rates  of  freight?  The  Troy  and  Greenfield  Railroad  has  no 
grade  from  the  West  to  the  East  exceeding  40  feet  per  mile — the  highest  gradient  is 
39  feet  and  a  fraction — the  same  gradient  as  that  adopted  by  the  Boston  and 
Fitchburg  Railroad,  and  it  will  be  submitted  in  evidence  to  this  committee  that  the 
Fitchburg  Railroad  has  carried,  of  coal  and  other  heavy  freight,  250  tons  to  the 
train,  not  only  over  gradients  of  nearly  40  feet,  but  over  gradients  affected  by 
severe  curvatures  at  the  same  time.  In  going  from  the  East  to  the  West  there  is  a 
gradient  of  55  feet,  on  the  Vermont  and  Massachusetts  line,  but  like  those  of  the 
Reading  road  it  is  not  in  the  direction  of  the  heavy  freight,  which  comes  from  the 
West.  In  order  to  maintain  our  average  of  180  tons,  we  come  from  the  West 
with  240  tons  to  the  train,  and  go  from  the  East  with  120  tons,  which  is  about  the 
proportion  of  the  business.  1 1  seems  really  as  if  these  gradients  had  bee  n  adapted  by 


9 


nature  to  the  course  of  the  traffic.  I  venture  to  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  this 
line  of  railroad  when  opened  to  Troy  will  be  competent  to  average  at  least  180  or 
200  tons  to  the  train,  instead  of  the  average  of  55  tons  on  the  Western  Railroad, 
and  that  it  will  be  able  to  carry  at  rates  closely  approaching  the  low  rates  of  the 
Reading  Railrpad. 

This  road  has  not  merely  the  advantage  of  gradients,  but  many  other  decided 
advantages  over  the  Western  Railroad.  Instead  of  carrying  freight  over  an  eleva¬ 
tion  of  1440  feet,  and  then*pitching  it  down  again  to  the  level  of  the  Connecticut 
at  Springfield,  it  runs  620  feet  below  the  summit  rail  of  the  Western  Railroad, 
where  it  passes  the  Hoosac  Mountain,  and  then  crosses  the  Connecticut  135  feet 
higher  than  the  Springfield  Bridge,  saving  1500  feet  of  rising  and  falling  grades. 
Besides  this  important  saving  in  grades  and  summit,  this  line  of  railroad  accom¬ 
plishes  a  great  saving  in  curvature.  Every  curve  over  which  freight  is  drawn 
throws  the  train  out  of  the  line  of  motion,  wears  the  wheels,  shakes  the  cars, 
injures  their  mechanism,  and  diminishes  the  tractive  power  of  the  engines.  But 
the  Troy  and  Greenfield  road  obliterates  seven  entire  circles  of  curvature,  making 
the  curvature  about  2500  degrees  less  than  on  the  Western  road.  The  great  obsta¬ 
cles  to  transportation  are  summits,  grades  and  curves,  and  we  have  shown  you 
that  in  all  these  elements  we  make  important  savings. 

I  will  now  call  your  attention  to  another  important  item  of  saving — the  cost  of 
fuel  in  transportation.  In  this  respect  we  gain  another  great  advantage,  if  we 
use  wood,  as  we  must  still  do  to  some  extent.  There  are  on  the  line  of  this  rail¬ 
road  immense  forests  affording  almost  bouudless  resources  of  fuel.  The  Deerfield 
valley  is  far  back  from  the  Connecticut  and  separated  from  the  Hudson  by  the  Hoos¬ 
ac  Mountain,  so  that  its  forests  have  not  been  cleared  off  like  those  of  more  ac¬ 
cessible  regions.  Fuel  can  be  obtained  40  per  cent  less  than  on  the  Western  Rail¬ 
road,  and  when  we  consider  that  the  item  of  fuel  constitutes  one-fourth  of 
the  expense  of  running  trains,  a  saving  of  40  per  cent  on  the  fuel  is  a  matter 
of  consequence.  Fuel  is  cheaper  throughout  the  line  of  the  Vermont  and  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Railroad  than  on  the  line  of  the  Western,  and  the  Fitchburg  roadobtains 
its  fuel  at  Groton  Junction,  30  or  40  per  cent  less  than  i:  is  sold  at  Worcester  for 
the  Western.  It  comes  to  Groton  from  the  great  forests,  locked  up  in  the  valley  of 
the  Monadnoc,  lately  opened  by  the  Peterboro’  and  Shirley  Railroad,  and  it  is  sold 
to  the  Fitchburg  road  at  S3  or  $3  50  per  cord,  when  $5  to  $6  have  been  paid  by 
the  Worcester,  and  Providence  Railroads. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  pass  to  the  last,  but  still  an  important  element,  which  is  dis¬ 
tance.  We  save  28  miles  in  distance  by  this  route  between  Troy  and  Boston, 
and  we  save  a  greater  amount  still,  when  we  connect  Troy  with  other  important 
centres  in  Massachusetts.  I  have  here  a  table  of  the  saving  of  distance  between 
Troy  and  various  important  centres : 

miles  saved. 


Troy  to  Boston  and  the  whole  South  Shore,  23  miles. 

“  “  Salem,  33  “ 

“  “  Newbury,  Haverhill,  Lowell  and  Lawrence,  42  “ 

“  “  Fitchburg,  55  “ 

“  “  Greenfield,  66  “ 


This  shows  an  important  saving  for  all  these  centres,  and  in  the  case  of  Green¬ 
field  the  actual  distance  is  reduced  from  140  miles  and  a  fraction  to  80  miles — near¬ 
ly  one-half.  To  the  Cape  and  the  whole  South  Shore,  which  finds  a  way  to  the 
West  by  Boston,  we  make  a  saving  of  23  miles,  of  course,  the  same  as  to  Boston 
itself.  I  make  the  average  saving  of  distance  to  these  various  centres  some  43 
miles,  or  21  per  cent. 

Now,  gentlemen,  the  Western  Railroad  aids  the  Southern  side  of  the  State 
including  all  the  towns  say  West  from  Newton,  and  lying  on  or  south  of  the  route 
of  the  Western  road,  and  our  argument  is  that  the  northern  part  of  the  State 
has  derived  little  or  no  benefit  from  the  aid  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  the  devel- 
opement  of  its  resources.  This  is  a  strong  point  in  the  case,  but  it  had  escaped  my 
attention,  and  I  find  no  note  of  it  in  my  brief.  While  the  State  has  appropriated 
large  sums  of  money  when  its  wealth  was  not  one-third  of  what  it  is  to-day,  to  de- 


10 


velope  the  resources  of  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  she  has  done  little  or  nothing 
for  the  northern  part.  According  to  the  ratio  of  increase  since  the  last  valuation, 
Massachusetts  is  worth  to-day  800  millions  of  dollars,  yet  when  she  possessed  less 
than  a  moiety  of  that  amount  of  wealth  she  loaned  to  the  Western  Railroad  $4,- 
000,000  and  subscribed  to  its  stock,  making  the  whole  amount  of  aid  $5,000,000. 
We  ask  in  these  days  of  her  prosperity  a  much  smaller  amount  of  aid,  to  over¬ 
come  this  obstacle,  and  by  this  means  to  produce  far  more  beneficial  results  than 
were  achieved  by  her  former  liberality,  for  I  undertake  to  demonstrate  not  only 
that  the  measure  is  of  immediate  importance  to  supply  us  with  breadstuffs,  and 
transport  our  manufactured  products  to  the  West,  but  that  it  is  of  great  prospec¬ 
tive  importance,  as  giving  a  vast  impulse  to  our  foreign  trade.  It  will  place  Massa¬ 
chusetts  nearly  quite  on  a  footing  with  New  York  in  the  commerce  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  This  is  the  demonstration  I  am  now  endeavoring  to  arrive  at,  and  to  this  end 
I  have  prepared,  and  ask  leave  to  submit,  a  table  of  the  savings,  which  will  enable 
us  to  transport  freight  at  rates  so  low  as  to  secure  a  fair  share  of  the  traffic  be¬ 
tween  the  West  and  the  seaboard.  The  saving  in  distance  I  put  down  to  be  on  the 
average  42  miles,  or  21  per  cent.  Then  comes  the  great  saving  of  motive  power 
effected  by  the  low  grades,  for  as  you  double  the  power  of  tne  locomotive  you 
diminish  by  one-half  the  expense  of  motive  power ;  we  carry  over  our  gradients 
more  than  double  the  amount  that  can  be  carried  over  the  western  railroad  by  the 
same  power,  and,  as  the  motive  power  is  estimated  at  36  per  cent  of  the  cost  of 
moving  the  trains,  we  save  here  18  per  cent.  Then  there  is  a  saving  of  one- 
third  of  the  cost  of  fuel,  on  account  of  our  superior  advantages  for  obtaining  it, 
and  the  cost  of  fuel  you  will  bear  in  mind  is  an  important  item  in  the  expenses 
of  any  railroad.  This  we  reckon  at  5  per  cent.  In  the  saving  of  curvature, 
removal  of  seven  entire  circles,  which  we  rate  at  one-third  the  saving  in  grade, 
we  find  am  ther  item  of  6  per  cent.  Then  in  doubling  the  freight  trains  we  save 
half  the  salary  of  conductors,  which  amounts  to  about  2  per  cent.  Dispensing 
with  half  the  freight  engines  we  of  course  save  the  interest  on  their  cost,  which 
gives  about  6  per  cent.  Finally,  we  save  the  ferry,  for  this  line  will  cross  the 
Hudson  river  over  a  bridge.  The  Western  Railroad  maintains  a  ferry  between 
Albany  and  Greenbush,  at  a  cost  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  annu¬ 
ally,  and  besides  this  cost,  the  whole  traffic  is  thereby  subjected  to  serious  in¬ 
convenience.  Freight  from  the  West  is  unloaded  at  Albany  at  10  cents  per 
ton,  placed  in  a  wagon  and  transported  across  the  river  at  30  or  40  cents  per 
ton,  and  then  unloaded  into  the  train  at  10  cents  more,  making  in  the  aggregate 
a  charge  of  50  cents  per  ton,  and  including  the  annual  cost  of  maintaining  the 
ferry,  an  aggregate  cost  of  60  or  70  cents  per  ton  on  account  of  the  ferry.  We 
place  the  saving  by  avoiding  the  ferry  at  only  6  per  cent,  and  the  whole  case  may 
be  thus  stated : 


Saving  in  distance, 

“  half  the  motive  power, 

“  one-third  the  fuel, 

“  curvature, 

“  half  conductors’  salary, 

“  interest  in  half  the  freight  engines, 
“  ferry, 


21  per  cent. 

18  “  “ 

5  “  “ 

6  “  “ 

2  “  “ 

6  “  “ 

6  “  « 


Total  amount  saved,  64  per  cent. 

I  saw  in  a  newspaper  yesterday  a  paragraph  stating  that  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad,  which  terminates  at  Albany,  has  transported  during  the  month  of  January 
an  amount  of  freight  reaching  $400,000,  against  $200,000  for  the  corresponding 
month  of  the  previous  year,  an  amount  of  business,  and  an  increase,  gentlemen, 
at  a  period  when  the  canals  and  lakes  are  closed,  and  all  the  lines  of  communica¬ 
tion  at  the  far  West  are  affected,  which  shows  the  transcendant  importance  of  this 
commerce.  In  order  to  come  over  the  Western  Railroad  all  that  freight  must 
cross  the  ferry  to  Greenbush.  We  dispense  with  a  ferry  entirely,  and  it  is  an 
account  of  the  freights,  which  cross  the  river  in  the  canal  boats,  that  we  estimate 


11 


the  saving  at  the  low  rate  of  6  per  cent.  We  have  then  an  aggregate  saving  of 
64  per  cent,  in  bringing  the  freight  into  Massachusetts.  Of  course  the  saving  is 
less  upon  that  which  reaches  the  seaboard  and  greater  upon  that  which  stops  in  the 
interior,  but  I  make  the  average  to  be  64  per  cent,  on  the  whole  and  about  54  per 
cent,  on  through  freight. 

Now,  if  from  Captain  Swift’s  average  cost  of  2%  cents  per  ton  per  mile,  or  $5 
from  Albany  to  Boston  we  deduct  this  54  per  cent.,  it  brings  the  cost  down  to 
about  $2  30,  making  a  saving  on  the  freight  between  the  city  of  Troy  and  the  sea¬ 
board  of  $2  70  per  ton  ;  and  if  you  apply  that,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  the  annual 
traffic  of  800,000  tons,  which  I  estimate  to  be  the  amount  of  tonnage  between  the 
East  and  the  West,  by  all  channels,  it  amounts  to  an  annual  saving  to  Massachu¬ 
setts  of  $2,000,000,  which  I  submit  is  quite  an  important  saving  in  these  hard 
times.  All  this  business  with  the  West,  gentlemen,  is  now  divided  between 
various  channels  of  trade.  It  is  conducted  to  a  considerable  extent  by  way  of 
New  York  ;  to  some  moderate  extent,  it  passes  over  the  Erie  Railroad  ;  to  a  much 
less  extent  it  goes  through  Philadelphia ;  to  a  limited  extent  by  way  of  Baltimore  ; 
to  a  trifling  extent  it  passes  through  New  Orleans  ;  and  it  avails  itself  a  little  of  the 
Western  Railroad.  Partly  by  water  and  partly  by  railroad,  as  best  we  now  may, 
we  carry  on  a  vast  interchange  of  commodities  with  the  West.  I  rate  this  traffic 
by  all  routes  at  800,000  tons  per  annum.  If  this  estimate  is  too  high  for  to-day  it 
will  be  too  low  for  to-morrow,  and  before  this  tunnel  enterprise  can  be  completed, 
it  will  be  altogether  beyond  the  present  calculations. 

The  question,  then,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  is  this  :  Is  a  saving  of 
$2  70  per  ton  on  this  vast  commerce,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  two  or  three 
millions  of  dollars  annually,  an  object  worthy  the  attention  of  Massachusetts  ? 
And  how  far  is  it  such  an  object  ?  On  this  point  I  beg  to  refer  you  to  a  document 
which  I  put  into  this  case.  It  is  a  report  of  the  Hearing  of  this  same  Railroad 
Company  before  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  in  the  year 
1853,  on  the  petition  for  a  loan  of  the  State  credit  to  the  amount  of  $2,000,000. 
From  page  86  of  this  report  I  extract  the  following  : 

The  State  engineer  and  surveyor  of  the  canals  of  New  York,  in  his  report  to  the  Assembly, 
January,  1853,  Assembly  Document,  No.  28,  pages  53  to  58,  states  the  following  facts,  which 
have  a  bearing  on  this  question. 

“The  dividing  of  trade  between  New  Orleans  and  the  New  York  canals  is  now  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  River,  but  when  the  Erie  Canal  is  enlarged,  it  will  be  extended  to  the 
Mississippi,  at  least  as  far  down  as  St.  Louis.  The  completion  of  the  enlargement  of  the 
Erie  Canal  will  reduce  the  expense  of  transportation  about  75  cents  per  ton,  which  is  equiva¬ 
lent  to  extending  the  area  of  its  drainage  of  trade  250  miles,  on  a  river  similar  to  the  Ohio  ; 
150  miles  on  an  ordinary  canal ;  50  miles  on  a  railroad,  and  5  to  7  miles  on  commen  roads, 
where  these  distances  are  not  met  by  competing  lines,  and  one-half  of  those  distances  where 
they  are  so  met. 

“The  southern  line  of  the  trade  drainage  of  the  New  York  canals  is  about  1,000  miles 
long  ;  the  increased  area  of  this  drainage,  which  would  be  caused  by  the  enlargement,  would 
be  equal  to  one-half  of  either  of  the  North-western  States,  and  embrace  a  belt  of  the  most 
productive  lands  in  four  of  those  States. 

“  A  reduction  in  the  cost  of  transport  through  the  Efie  Canal  such  as  that  which  will  be 
produced  by  its  enlargement,  will  also  increase  the  amount  of  trade  within  the  present  drain¬ 
age,  by  permitting  the  exportation  of  many  articles  of  large  bulk  and  small  value,  which  are 
restrained  at  the  present  time  by  the  cost  of  transportation. 

“  The  whole  area  of  the  district,  the  trade  of  which  concentrates  at  the  eastern  end  of 
Lake  Erie,  is  equal  to  330,000  square  miles.  This  table  shows  that  seven  North-western 
States  and  Canada,  are  an  area  of  over  400,000  square  miles,  and  that  their  annual  agricul¬ 
tural  and  animal  products  exceeds  15,000,000  of  tons. 

“  The  commerce  of  the  Western  Lakes  alone  is  now  valued  at  over  $300,000,000,  and 
annually  employs  80,000  tons  of  steam  and  140,000  tons  of  sail  vessels.  Theamouutof  flour 
and  grain  transported  on  the  lakes,  in  1851,  was,  of  flour,  2,000,000  of  barrels  ;  of  wheat, 
8,000,000  ;  of  corn,  7,000,000  ;  and  of  oats  and  barley,  2,000,000,  making  an  aggregate  of 
over  27,000,000  of  bushels  of  cereal  produce. 

“  The  whole  exports  of  the  same  articles  from  the  United  States,  in  1851,  were  but  little 
more  than  half  of  the  above  amount.” 

The  State  of  New  York,  gentlemen,  the  great  and  provident  State  of  New  York, 
to  save  75  cents  per  ton  only  on  the  cost  of  transportation,  taxes  her  citizens  to 
the  amount  of  many  millions,  and  thereby  extends  her  influence  250  fniles  by  river, 


12 


carrying  it  below  St.  Louis.  To  save  75  cents  only,  a  mere  truckage,  New  York 
is  incurring  an  expense  of  $25,000,000  for  the  enlargement  of  her  great  Canal. 
Now,  if  New  York  expends  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  to  save  75  cents,  how 
much  should  Massachusetts  expend  to  save  $2.70,  and  extend  her  influence  four 
times  as  far  ?  According  to  my  arithmetic,  gentlemen,  it  would  be  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  !  But  we  ask  only  a  subscription  to 
our  stock  of  $150,000,  and  that  the  State  take  part  in  the  management  of  the  road. 
Gentlemen,  this  argument  is  so  forcible,  so  irresistible,  that  1  take  great  pleasure  in 
laying  it  before  this  committee. 

The  Erie  Canal  enlargement  saves  75  cents  on  the  transportation  of  a  ton,  and 
thereby  reaches  to  St.  Louis,  aye,  it  reaches  also  the  Western  Territories  beyond 
the  Mississippi ;  it  reaches  those  vast  plains  which  are  now  the  subject  of  discussion 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  —  those  great  plains  and  fertile  prairies,  so 
long  ranged  by  the  Buffalo,  which  Col.  Fremont  describes  as  appropriate  for  our 
vast  corn  fields,  and  which  I  fear  before  the  great  question  of  freedom 
shall  be  settled  are  destined  to  become  fields  of  blood.  It  reaches,  I  say,  to  where 
the  great  and  momentous  questions  of  freedom  or  slavery  are  now  agitated,  in  the 
garden  of  the  Union,  where  the  pioneer  lies  down  to  sleep  at  night  upon  his 
Sharpe’s  Rifle,  in  imminent  peril  from  a  foe  more  dangerous  and  more  cruel  than 
the  savage,  for  unlike  the  free  Indian  who  struggled  only  for  his  own  freedom,  he  is 
struggling  to  subjugate  the  inhabitants  of  these  new  lands  to  the  yoke  of  bondage. 

The  influence  of  this  Canal  enlargement  reaches  to  New  Mexico,  and  connects 
with  New  York,  the  whole  of  that  vast  area  whose  outlet  is  by  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri.  This  twenty-five  millions  of  outlay  to  save  75  cents  per  ton  produces 
that  result.  It  is  doing  it  not  only  for  New  York  but  for  us,  and  for  the  world. 
When  we  have  made  our  improvement,  we  avail  ourselves  of  this  enlargement, 
and  we  open  to  Boston  and  to  Massachusetts  the  commerce  of  the  West,  by  show¬ 
ing  them  the  best  road  to  the  sea. 

But  it  will  be  said,  gentlemen,  by  those  who  have  not  looked  this  matter  in  the 
face — by  those  who,  not  having  grappled  with  the  subject,  have  taken  only  a  super¬ 
ficial  view,  and  been  discouraged  by  the  apparent  difficulties  it  presents  —  those 
who  have  not  the  vision  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  that  mountain,  and  contem¬ 
plate  the  vast  results  to  flow  from  opening  this  new  channel  of  trade, — it  will  be 
said  by  these  rather  short-sighted  gentlemen,  that  the  cost  of  transportation  from 
Albany  or  Troy  to  the  ocean  is  but  trifling,  and  that  trade  will  naturally  flow  down 
to  New  York  instead  of  taking  this  new  direction.  They  tell  us  that  for  fifty  or 
sixty  cents  per  ton  it  will  be  floated  down  the  Hudson  to  New  York,  there  to  be  put 
into  ships,  distributed  to  the  East  and  transported  to  Europe.  Let  us  look  this 
matter  for  a  moment  in  the  face.  They  have  actually  built  a  Railroad  from  New 
York  to  Albany,  by  the  side  of  the  Hudson  River,  at  a  cost  of  some  $10,000,000, 
a  Railroad  to  compete  with  the  Hudson  River  in  the  transportation  of  passengers 
and  freight !  For  a  quarter  part  of  the  year  the  communication  between  Albany 
and  New  York  is  sealed  up  by  frost,  and  were  we  able  to  enter  into  competition  with 
New  York  for  only  one-fourth  of  the  year  it  would  be  a  great  object  gained. 

But  the  traffic  is  not  carried  down  the  Hudson  on  an  average  at  the  low  rates 
suggested.  In  the  evidence  which  I  shall  submit  to  you,  I  shall  be  ahle  to  show 
that  the  average  charge  of  transportation  during  the  summer  season,  by  the  river, 
is  ninety  cents  per  ton,  and  to  this  you  must  add  the  exposure  of  goods  to  the  dam¬ 
age  incident  to  water  carriage,  and  the  risk  of  shipwreck,  for  sloops  and  barges 
are  often  run  down  and  sunk  on  the  Hudson  River.  Twenty  or  thirty  cents  per 
ton  must  be  added  to  the  cost  on  account  of  this  exposure  to  the  elements.  Then 
taking  the  average  of  freight  charges  through  the  year,  I  make  the  average  cost  of 
transportation  between  Troy  and  New  York  to  be  $1.30  per  ton.  We  have  shown 
that  we  can  carry  freight  between  Troy  and  Boston  at  $2.30  per  ton,  by  means  of 
this  Tunnel  route,  and  you  will  perceive  that  New  York  still  possesses  an  advantage 
over  Boston  of  80  cents  per  ton.  But  here  is  our  answer,  that  when  you  have 
advanced  as  far  as  Boston  you  have  advanced  part  way  to  Europe.  You  have 
reached  another  point  in  the  route.  You  have  also  grasped  Groton,  Lowell,  Law¬ 
rence,  and  other  important  points  of  distribution.  And  when  you  have  reached 


# 


13 


the  sea  coast  you  are  200  miles  nearer  to  Europe  and  the  British  Provinces  than  a 
New  York,  and  you  have  besides,  a  stormy  Cape  between  you  and  New  York. 
When  you  take  into  consideration  the  high  charges  of  N.  York,  the  saving  of  time, 
risk  and  distance,  and  more  than  these,  the  native  energy,  thrift,  and  frugality,  of 
Massachusetts,  you  will  find  more  than  a  compensation  for  this  difference  of  eighty 
cents  in  the  cost  of  transportation.  If  we  can  bring  freight  to  Boston  at  a  cost  of 
only  a  little  more  than  two  dollars  per  ton,  we  place  the  community  then  upon  a 
perfect  equality  with  New  York  for  this  export  trade ;  and,  gentlemen,  il  the  effect 
of  building  the  Erie  Canal  has  been  to  carry  up  the  wealth  of  the  City  of  New  York 
from  less  than  $100,000,000  to  $500,000,000,  as  it  is  to-day,  and  to  build  up  a 
population  of  900,000  inhabitants  in  and  around  that  city,  making  it  the  great  com¬ 
mercial  centre  of  the  Union,  is  it  not  the  policy  of  Massachusetts  to  take  measures 
for  building  up  rival  cities  here,  giving  them  the  same  advantages  which  art  and 
science  have  given  to  the  city  of  New  York  ?  If  we  have  to-day,  upon  every  ton 
of  Western  trade  an  average  burden  of  two  or  three  dollars  charged  for  transpor¬ 
tation,  which  can  be  removed,  is  it  not  the  true  policy  of  the  State  to  incur  the 
slight  risk  which  is  required  to  remove  it  ?  Such  are  the  grave  questions  which 
present  themselves  to  this  Committee. 

If  the  City  of  Boston  now  pays  one-third  of  the  taxes  of  the  State,  why  not 
give  it  an  impulse  which  will  enable  it  to  bear  two-thirds  ?  And,  at  the  same  time, 
if  you  can  give  a  corresponding  impulse  to  the  interior,  and  to  other  sea  ports,  why 
not  give  that  impulse  also,  as  well  as  to  the  City  of  Boston  ?  Mr.  Chairman,  and 
gentlemen,  instead  of  sending  our  children  and  grand-children  to  seek  fortune  in 
New  York,  and  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  other  cities  of  the  West,  why  not  let 
them  grow  up  around  us  at  home?  Why  not  let  our  lands  expand  in  value  and 
our  cities  enlarge  themselves  into  great  marts  of  commerce  ?  Why  build  them  up 
in  other  States?  If  wealth,  fortune,  and  honor  are  within  our  reach,  why  not 
grasp  them  with  our  hands  ?  These,  gentlemen,  are  suggestions  which  address 
themselves  to  your  serious  attention. 

This  brings  me  directly  to  the  question  of  the  enterprise  itself,  but  I  am  afraid, 
gentlemen,  I  weary  your  patience,  and  will  not  therefore,  detain  you  to  prove  at 
length  the  feasibility  of  this  measure,  which  has  already  been  proved  to  the  satisfac¬ 
tion  of  four  successive  committees,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  large  minority  of  the 
fifth.  And  let  me  say,  gentlemen,  that  with  these  large  committees  chosen  some¬ 
times  by  our  foes,  and  arranged,  it  seemed  to  us,  with  a  view  to  the  defeat  of  the 
measure  at  the  outset,  the  result  has  been  that  they  have  all  come  to  the  same  con¬ 
clusion,  with  a  single  exception.  Four  out  of  five  reported  in  our  favor.  And  it  is 
not  a  little  remarkable,  that  of  the  single  committee  which  decided  against  us,  a  minor¬ 
ity  submitted  a  report  which  was  carried  through  the  House  and  the  Senate,  and  gave 
us  our  charter.  I  shall  not,  after  so  many  favorable  results  arrived  at  by  preceding 
committees,  delay  you  by  a  long  array  of  facts  to  show  that  this  measure  is  feasi¬ 
ble.  It  has  been  proved  four  or  five  times  to  the  satisfaction  of  Massachusetts, 
and  we  have  preserved  the  evidence  upon  which  these  conclusions  were  based, 
and  this  evidence  will  be  presented  to  you,  to  be  considered  at  your  con¬ 
venience. 

I  will,  however,  as  some  gentlemen,  may  not  be  familiar  with  the  subject, 
give  a  brief  statement  of  facts.  The  Troy  and  Greenfield  Railroad  is  40  miles 
Tong,  perhaps  a  little  over,  from  Greenfield  on  the  Connecticut  to  Williamstown. 
The  tunnel  itself  is  4|-  miles  in  length —  24,000  feet  and  a  fraction  —  and  is  found 
after  careful  examination  by  geologists  to  pass  the  whole  distance  through  mica 
slate,  and  a  little  lime  stone.  This  slate  is  soft,  and  stands  in  vertical  layers  like  a 
rovv  of  books  on  the  shelf  of  a  library.  The  tunnel  will  pass  through  these  layers 
like  a  bullet  through  such  a  range  of  books.  The  rocks  are  easily  perforated,  and 
self-sustaining.  A  slab  of  the  same  kind  of  rock  was  laid  down  in  the  side  walk 
on  Tremont  street,  in  front  of  the  Albion,  a  few  years  since,  but  it  was  soon  worn 
out  by  the  shoes  which  passed  over  it.  A  portion  of  our  road  has  already  been  con¬ 
structed.  In  New  York,  the  route  is  completed  from  Troy  to  the  Summit,  east  of  Eagle 
Bridge,  a  distance  of  28  miles,  and  the  citizens  of  Troy  have  pledged  themselves  to 
fill  up  the  small  remaining  gap  in  season  to  meet  us,  and  will  undoubtedly  do  so. 


14 


Permit  me  to  state  in  this  connection  that  the  most  expensive  tunnels  in 
Europe  are  not  those  built  through  solid  rock,  but  those  conducted  through  clay 
and  earth, where  it  was  found  necessary  to  drive  piles  and  lay  foundations, and  to  build 
up  masonry  while  the  work  was  progressing.  We  apprehend  little  water  in  our 
tunnel,  and  the  work  will  be  self-sustaining.  A  portion  ot  the  rock  will  be  taken 
out  by  splitting.  The  estimates  have  been  made  at  five  dollars  per  yard,  but  the 
work  thus  far  shows  that  the  rock  can  be  excavated  at  three  dollars  per  yard.  In 
this  country,  there  is  no  tunnel  of  such  magnitude.  In  England  there  are  two  or 
three  tunnels  16,000  feet  long,  and  some  of  much  greater  diameter  than  this.  At 
Marseilles,  in  France,  there  is  a  tunnel  three  miles  long,  excavated  recently 
through  a  much  more  difficult  rock,  at  a  cost  much  less  than  two  millions.  There 
is  in  Saxony,  a  German  State,  smaller  than  Massachnsetls,  a  mining  tunnel  twenty- 
four  miles  long!  We  have  no  account  of  the  nature  of  the  tunnelling.  It  is 
reported  to  be  a  continuous  tunnel,  which  was  quite  a  number  of  years  in  con¬ 
struction.  It  was  built  for  the  double  purpose  of  draining  and  giving  access  to 
their  valuable  mines.  There  are  in  the  coal  and  copper  districts  of  England  tunnels 
quite  as  extensive  as  this  of  Saxony,  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  taking  out  the 
products  of  the  mines.  Whole  districts  near  Newcastle  and  Cornwall  are  under¬ 
mined  by’  those  expensive  tunnels,  and  they  are  carried  to  some  extent  even  under 
the  sea.  Instances  are  related  of  brooks  and  rivers  disappearing  from  their  beds,  and 
finding  outlets  through  these  tunnels.  The  working  of  tunnels  is  by  no  means  as 
difficult  as  many  imagine,  and  experience  shows  that  no  great  precautions  are 
required  to  secure  ventilation.  In  the  Marseilles  tunnel,  the  shafts  or  openings 
have  all  been  closed  up,  and  an  advantage  is  gained  by  preventing  the  surface 
water  from  coming  down.  Besides,  there  is  no  danger  of  rocks  tumbling  down  the 
shafts  upon  the  cars  passing  below.  The  tunnel  is  open  only  at  either  extremity, 
and  no  inconvenience  results  from  closing  the  shafts.  A  scientific  gentleman 
reports  to  the  British  Government  his  examination  of  one  of  those  tunnels,  and  says 
he  went  into  it  with  a  small  howitzer,  and  passed  a  good  portion  of  the  day  with  his 
party,  in  firing  billets  of  wood  at  the  roof,  to  test  its  soundness.  Forty  or  fifty 
trains  passed  through  while  he  was  there,  and  at  first  he  had  some  apprehen¬ 
sions  about  the  smoke.  He  soon  found,  however,  that  it  passed  off,  rising  to  the 
top  of  the  tunnel,  and  condensing  very  rapidly  against  the  sides.  The  same  was 
observed  of  the  sulphurous  vapor  arising  from  firing  the  howitzer.  Without  pass¬ 
ing  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  tunnel,  the  smoke  and  vapor  are  resolved  into 
other  elements,  the  heavy  particles  falling  to  the  ground,  and  the  gases  princi¬ 
pally  condensing  against  the  rock.  In  constructing  tunnels  long  tubes  are  used 
to  blow  in  good  air,  and  expel  the  impure,  but  after  their  completion  the  passage 
of  trains  drives  out  the  gases,  or  the  tunnels  keep  themselves  pure  by  spontaneous 
currents,  so  that  one  passes  through  them  almost  without  knowing  it.  In  Europe, 
I  was  told,  with  a  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye,  that  misfortunes  do  sometimes  occur 
in  tunnels,  and  one  of  the  most  serious  ever  known  was  this :  A  lady  of  great 
personal  beauty  took  passage  in  the  cars,  and  just  before  entering  a  tunnel  it  was 
observed  that  she  had  a  piece  of  court  plaster  adhering  to  her  ruby  lips.  But  on 
emerging  from  the  tunnel  it  was  found  the  court  plaster  had  mysteriously  disap¬ 
peared,  and  assumed  a  new  position  on  the  lips  of  a  gentleman  sitting  by  her  side. 
[A  member  of  the  committee  here  inquired  if  the  accident  was  not  attributed  to 
animal  magnetism,  but  Mr.  Derby  was  unable  to  relieve  his  anxiety  on  this  point, 
and  he  exclaimed,  “  Mr.  Chairman,  I  go  in  for  the  tunnel.”] 

I  hope  before  the  case  is  concluded  to  bring  before  you  some  of  the  gentlemen 
who  have  entered  into  contracts  to  construct  this  tunnel.  They  are  experienced 
contractors,  and  can  enlighten  us  fully  in  regard  to  its  feasibility.  The  Company 
during  the  past  year  have  increased  their  subscriptions  to  some  extent.  From 
towns  along  the  line  they  have  obtained  $60,000  or  $70,000,  and  a  considerable 
amount  from  individual  subscriptions.  The  contractors  take  a  large  interest  in  the 
work,  but  they  have  not  the  fortune  to  carry  it  on  themselves,  and  require  some 
little  assistance.  A  small  amount  more  of  expenditure  will  enable  them  to  draw 
the  first  instalment  of  the  State  loan.  The  terms  of  this  loan  are  such  as  not  only 
to  guard  it  carefully,  but  to  keep  it  Just  beyond  our  reach,  like  the  cup  of  Tantalus. 


15 


The  State  asks  us  to  finish  seven  miles  of  railroad,  and  1000  feet  of  tliej tunnel  before 
receiving  the  first  payment  of  $100,000  ;  then  when  we  have  completed  five  miles 
more,  and  an  additional  1000  feet  of  the  tunnel  we  receive  another  instalment  of 
$100,000  ;  and  so  on  as  the  work  progresses.  What  we  require  now  is  a  little  aid  to 
enable  us  to  receive  the  first  instalment  of  the  loan.  We  ask  of  the  State  only  a 
moderate  subscription,  15  per  cent  on  the  amount  subscribed  to  the  Western 
Railroad,  and  we  cheerfully  ask  the  State  to  take  part  in  the  direction  of  the  road. 
The  State  has  four  directors  of  the  Western  Railroad,  and  we  ask  for  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  State  directors  of  our  own  road  to  see  that  the  money  granted  by  the 
State  is  wisely  expended.  In  these  trying  times,  when  all  railroad  securities  are  at 
a  discount,  a  moderate  subscription  from  the  State  seems  necessary  to  enable  us  to 
go  forward  with  courage  and  confidence. 

If  it  be  urged  that  the  expenses  of  Massachusetts  have  for  the  last  few  years 
been  large,  let  me  reply  that  we  ask  merely  an  advance  of  the  State  credit,  ad 
that  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  the  past  four  years  will  not  often  recur.  We 
have  enlarged  the  State  House  and  the  Prison,  have  built  alms-houses  and  hospi¬ 
tals,  have  held  a  State  convention.  Let  me  give  you  a  schedule  of  these  expenses 
and  predict  that  the  roll  will  not  be  repeated. 


1852.  — Enlargment  State  Prison, . $111,457  51 

New  Lunatic  Hospital, . 60.364  24 

State  Alms  House, . 20,257  74 

- $192,079  49 

1853.  — Convention, . $154,184  82 

Lunatic  Hospital,  Taunton, . 58,228  45 

State  Alms  Houses, . 94,255  37 

State  House  enlargment, . 48,361  19 

- $355,029  83 

1854.  — State  Alms  Houses, . $100,488  14 

State  House  enlargment, . 84,915  82 

Lunatic  Hospital, . 66,542  55 

- $251,946  51 

1855.  — State  Alms  Houses, . $50,870  67 

State  House  enlargment, .  102,785  96 

Western  Lunatic  Hospital, . 17,343  42 

- $171,000  05 


Aggregate . $971,055  88 


The  first  contractors  have  associated  with  them  some  of  the  strongest  and  ablest 
men,  commanding  considerable  capital,  who  have  made  some  of  the  tunnels  in 
Pennsylvania.  These  men  have  subscribed  to  a  large  amount,  and  will  go  forward 
with  confidence  if  the  State  will  lend  a  helping  hand  by  a  subscription  of  $150,- 
000,  to  give  them  a  start. 

It  is  a  long  voyage  before  us,  requiring  from  five  to  six  years  in  its  accomplish¬ 
ment.  We  feel  confident  that  we  can  finish  the  work  within  this  period,  but  that 
is  along  time  for  any  individual  to  wait.  Few  men  can  incur  a  considerable  ex¬ 
penditure  and  wait  so  many  years  for  a  return.  The  farmer  plants  his  orchard  for 
posterity,  but  his  expenditure  is  small.  The  boldest  adventure  of  Massachusetts 
is  the  whale  fishery,  and  in  that  she  surpasses  all  other  States.  The  merchant  how¬ 
ever,  is  compelled  to  bring  the  men  who  make  the  voyages,  into  partnership,  and 
they  return  in  two  or  three  years  with  the  spoils  of  the  distant  ocean.  But  in  these 
enterprises  the  outlay  is  not  very  large.  Generally  an  old  ship  is  found,  not  worth 
much  for  other  uses,  and  she  is  fitted  up  with  stores,  provisions,  and  clothing  for 
the  men,  purchased  usually  on  long  credits. 

Gentlemen,  our  whaling  voyage  promises  to  be  far  more  productive  to  all  the  in¬ 
terests  of  Massachusetts,  but  it  requires  both  a  large  capital  and  a  long  time.  In¬ 
dividual  courage  and  enterprise  will  hardly  furnish  these,  and  we  look  to  the  State 
to  step  forward  and  give  us  a  lift.  Other  States  have  done  so  for  their  internal  im¬ 
provements.  The  State  of  New  York,  following  the  lead  of  Massachusetts,  not  on¬ 
ly  gave  her  credit,  but  actually  gave  three  millions  of  dollars  outright  to  the  Erie 
Railroad.  She  has  expended  fifty  millions  from  the  public  treasury  to  build  her 
canals,  and  she  is  sustained  by  the  people.  Pennsylvania  has  expended  large 
sums  on  her  public  improvements,  on  State  account.  Virginia  makes  all  her  tun- 


16 


r 


nels  herself,  leaving  the  corporations  to  build  the  roads.  She  is  now,  I  believe, 
engaged  on  two  or  three  tunnels  on  State  account.  We  ask  only  that  the  State 
may  become  a  small  partner,  taking  a  small  interest,  but  running  little  or  no  risk, 
for  a  great  object. 

The  Slate  will  be  secure  on  its  loan,  paying  only  as  the  work  advances.  The 
road  can  be  run  in  sections,  on  each  side  of  the  mountain  as  fast  as  it  is  completed, 
That  part  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  coming  from  Troy,  is  nearly  finished, 
and  the  Troy  road  is  already  dividing  receipts.  An  arrangement  to  equip  and 
to  run  will  be  made  with  the  Vermont  and  Massachusetts  road,  on  the  other  side. 
All  this  will  be  done,  and  the  risk  to  the  State  will  be  a  trifling  one.  Let  me 
ask  you,  gentlemen,  whether  in  so  great  an  undertaking  as  this,  which  is  to  re¬ 
dound  so  much  for  the  glory  and  benefit  of  Massachusetts,  whether  it  is  not  in¬ 
cumbent  upon  the  State,  not  merely  to  make  a  loan,  but  to  do  something  as  a  part¬ 
ner.  Virginia  is  expending  millions  and  tens  of  millions  for  less  results  than  we 
confidently  anticipate,  and  the  question  before  you  gentlemen,  is  whether  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  richer  than  any  State  in  the  Union  except  New  York,  richer  in  wealth, 
education,  science,  richer  in  everything  that  constitutes  the  greatness  of  a  State, — 
the  question  is  whether  Massachusetts  it  not  rich  enough  to  contribute  one-sixth  of 
a  million  towards  carrying  out  this  great  undertaking. 

Gentlemen,  I  will  detain  you  no  longer,  but  thanking  you  for  the  kind  and 
patient  attention  you  have  given  me,  I  here  rest  ihe  case  until  it  may  suit  your  con¬ 
venience,  to  hear  evidence  in  support  of  these  positions. 

The  Committee  then  adjourned  to  meet  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  on  Thursday, 
March  6th,  at  3  o’clock  p.  m. 

NOTE. 

At  the  hearing  of  this  case  before  the  joint  committee  of  the  Senate  and  House, 
a  body  composed  of  seven  members  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  and  thirteen  on  the 
part  of  the  House,  some  very  important  evidence  was  given. 

Among  other  testimony,  it  was  testified  by  F.  W.  Thayer  of  the  firm  of  Enoch 
Train  &  Co.  that  his  firm  managed  a  line  of  Liverpool  packet  vessels  of  1000  to 
1500  tons,  that  for  15  years  past  they  had  charged  from  12  to  24  cents  less  freight  on  a 
barrel  of  flour  from  Boston  to  Liverpool  than  the  charge  on  a  barrel  of  flour  at  the 
same  time  from  New  York  to  Liverpool.  That  it  cost  from  $100  to  $150  per  day 
to  maintain  and  run  one  of  their  large  ships,  that  their  usual  passage  from  Boston 
to  Liverpool  was  20  days  ;  return  passage  usually  thirty  days  ;  that  the  run  was 
made  by  them  in  three  to  six  days  less  time  than  the  run  between  New  York  and 
Liverpool;  that  the  port  charges  on  such  a  vessel  in  Boston  were  from  $1000  to 
$2000  less  than  the  port  charges  on  the  same  ship  at  New  York  ;  that  the  wharves 
were  more  convenient,  and  the  vessel  was  discharged  and  laden  at  Boston  in  a  less 
time  by  a  week  than  was  required  at  New  York,  that  insurance  was  effected  by 
the  year,  that  dispatch  saved  insurance,  interest,  and  current  expenses  and  made 
each  voyage  less  expensive  than  the  voyage  on  the  New  York  routes. 

He  also  stated  that  there  was  great  want  of  exports  at  Boston  and  from  the  want 
of  breadstuff's  and  the  rise  of  charges  on  the  railroads  they  were  obliged  to  suspend 
shipments  and  seek  outward  freights  in  other  ports,  although  large  accumulations 
of  freight  were  lying  at  Montreal  and  other  points  waiting  for  a  cheaper  transit. 

It  was  also  testified  by  A.  F.  Edwards,  Esq.,  civil  engineer,  that  the  cost  of  fuel 
was  annually  rising  on  the  Western  and  Worcester  Railroads,  and  now  ranged 
from  $5  to  $6  per  cord,  that  the  forests  were  becoming  exhausted  on  this  line  ;  that 
on  the  Fitchburg  which  drew  its  wood  from  the  sides  of  the  Monadnoc,  and  on  the 
Vermont  and  Massachusetts  and  Troy  and  Greenfield  Railroads  wood  ranged  from 
$1  50  to  $3  50  per  cord  ;  that  on  this  route,  from  less  grades  and  diminished  length, 
less  than  one-half  the  wood  would  move  the  same  tonnage,  and  that  vast  forests 
existed  and  would  last  many  years. 

Mr.  Edwards  also  submitted  a  calculation  to  show  that  on  the  new  route  from 
superior  grades  less  ascent  and  curvature,  cheaper  fuel  and  avoidance  of  a  ferry, 
freight  could  be  transported  from  Troy  to  Boston  at  a  reduction  of  54  per  cent, 
from  the  cost  on  the  Western  Railroad. 

It  was  also  shown  that  the  shipping  of  Boston  in  June  last  was  546,268  tons. 


